"The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, as long as we keep our foot on his neck. " WILLIAM JAMES We climbed up and up, the vistas unfolding, the massive glaciered crag of Jack Mountain – the “King of the Skagit” – revealing itself close enough to touch, the Picket Range and Mount Baker gathering up…

Our hiking group had turned to this creekside forest trail on a drippy Saturday, discouraged from the high country by late spring snows and poor weather. As we drove through the foothills, the clouds blowing in from yet another Pacific weather system bunched above us as if snagged by the shaggy treetops, spitting moisture onto the windshield. It was going to be a…